The importance of “busy work”

As we prepare for the culminating event of our fund’s work, Wednesday’s grand ceremony, I can’t help but reflect on how critically important the first few weeks of the semester were. When I originally signed up for HONR349I, the concept of the class seemed fairly straightforward. I thought to myself, “Wow, they’re going to just give us money to help people, how could this possibly be difficult?” But during the first few weeks of the course, as we read more cases and articles than I care to remember, I found myself asking a different question, “What’s with all the busy work?” I wanted to get out and start searching for causes, doing interviews, and participating in site visits because after all, that seemed like the fun stuff. But looking back, I chuckle at how foolish this belief really was. Without Professor Grimm and Professor Drezner’s lessons on head vs. heart, breadth vs. depth, risk vs. return, charity vs. philanthropy, and the often poor outcomes of good intentions, none of us would have been able to make an informed decision about our fund. I consider those lessons some of the most important things I’ve learned during my time at UMD, and they will influence every philanthropic decision I make for the rest of my life.

But before we go on to apply these lessons and rid the world of all its ailments, we get to enjoy Wednesday’s ceremony. And after that event is over, and Grassroots has accepted their check, all of us will go our separate ways. We may never cross paths again, but I will always remember this experience and be incredibly proud of the group of strangers that came together to make a difference in the fight against HIV.

-Jeff B.

Reflection

As the semester ends and we near the grant award ceremony for the Grassroot Project, I have thought long and hard about the past sixteen weeks and how much our class has been fortunate enough to experience and witness.  From the beginning, we were exposed to different methods of philanthropy—donating time, money, other resources, or a mix of these.  Learning about prominent philanthropists and how to make decisions also came into play.  Little did I know just how much this information would reappear throughout the semester.

As the weeks went on and our decisions began and grew bigger, some issues and things to consider kept recurring.  The one that struck me the most was making choices with the head compared to making them with the heart—did we want to be analytical in our decisions, or should we let the compassion we felt toward organizations lead the way to our final choice?  This was a semester-long struggle for me and, as Jessica stated in her earlier post, I don’t believe I will be able to be an analytical philanthropist.  I will, however, be able to make more informed decisions in regards to philanthropy—as will everyone else in the class.  Another recurring issue was what type of impact we wanted our money to make: should we give one grant to an organization so it would have the biggest impact, or did we want to divide it among organizations so as to have the widest influence?  Hearing about this from our guest speakers and at the Do Good Challenge seemed to help a lot, and by the time our final decision had to be made most people were in agreement in giving all the money to one group so we could impact that group more than if they only received half of the money.

Overall, I feel confident that we have all grown as philanthropists and people.  Though the journey was difficult and some people may still feel slight disappointment in the outcome, our class pushed through and was able to make a decision that will greatly benefit youth and help fight the HIV/AIDS epidemic in our area.  Even if our future philanthropic endeavors do not take the same path, we can all be assured that we have become better advocates for philanthropy and will continue to “do good” in this world.  Despite the debates and roadblocks we faced, I believe our class was successful in every meaning of the word—we gained practical experience and knowledge, gave back to the community (with the help of donors of course) and were able to see the impact even college students can have.  To me this is more valuable than any lesson learned from a textbook, and I am truly grateful to have been part of such an experience.

-Margaret B.

There is no “better”

I’ve volunteered and fundraised for countless organizations.  Honestly, I rarely even go back to the same organization because there’s always another that I’m too eager to assist.  As the semester went on, I started to second-guess myself and my work.  Had I even been making an impact with my inconsistent efforts?  Should I have researched each organization’s budgets and missions and history before donating?

I started to view philanthropic organizations as businesses with strengths and weaknesses and competition. It became something that I could critique and argue about. I compared them, ranked them, and judged them.  I started to believe that a long-term strategy would be more impactful.  I started to believe that you could gauge “impact.” Philanthropy became something hard and graspable, not the vague concept that wrote about in the first week of class.

Now that this class is over, I’m going back to my vague concept.  I don’t think philanthropy can or should be defined.

Philanthropy is so personal, so emotional, so subjective, that I just can’t bear to say one way is ever better than another.  There is no “more” impactful because impact isn’t measureable.  There is no better. Who’s to say that me giving one dollar to 100 homeless people is better or worse than giving a hundred dollars to one homeless person?  Who’s to say that AIDS is more or less important than hunger, or prevention is more or less important than treatment?

I’ve thoroughly enjoyed hearing everyone’s different opinions and reading about different philosophies on philanthropy.  I have also really appreciated the opportunity to try something new and be a part of this group decision-making process.  But even after expanding my knowledge of philanthropy, my personal philanthropic autobiography will remain the same.  I learned that this type of analytical, strategic giving-with-the-head doesn’t have a place in my life right now, but I still have a place in philanthropy.  There’s a place for people like me in philanthropy that find it more natural to give gifts than grants. There’s a place for people who just act without analyzing.  My heart is smart, so I will let it lead me.  I will be spontaneous and inconsistent and trusting and I will make an impact, and I hope that you make an impact in the way that best fits you.

-Jessica B.

Evolution of an Autobiography

Listening to the first run-through of the panel discussion for next week really made me think not only about the growth of our class as a whole, but also about the changes in my own personal “philanthropic autobiography.” I initially signed up for the class because, as an intern in a corporate philanthropy department, I thought it would be interesting to learn about the giving side of philanthropy. From the very beginning, however, this class has challenged my views of what “philanthropy” truly means and how even just one person can make a significant impact.

Just this week, I was asked in a different class to do an “activism” assignment, which gave students complete freedom to write a short paper on any cause we were passionate about and an organization that we might want to become involved with in the future. To be honest, before taking HONR349I, I would have been at a total loss for where to start. Like everyone else in class, I have about a million different causes that I’m interested in, and they are all “good” and deserving of my time and passion. I really agree with Amee said yesterday in the panel about the skills we have gained as a class in this course. I feel that the entire process (from determining our mission and values down to the final decision) has given me a practical skill set that is applicable in many different areas. I actually pulled up several documents and articles that we’ve read for class and used them as guide. “Creating High-Impact Nonprofits” was especially helpful for this assignment, as it was in evaluating applications for our grant! In the past, I have definitely been more inclined to let my heart make the decisions when it came to philanthropy, but I have come to see that my head can also provide really important input. It’s all about finding a happy balance, and being a thoughtful and discerning philanthropist can really transform your passion into meaningful action.

Overall, I feel that this course has opened up an entirely new realm of possibilities for me, especially as I leave the University of Maryland and have to challenge myself to continue finding ways to turn my passion into impact. Do you feel that this course has influenced the future of your philanthropic autobiography?

-Emily F.

The Best of the Best

With the final decision made and done, I can’t help but think back to the first few weeks and look at how we have grown as a class.  I think we have all learned from each other and have developed new and more refined views regarding philanthropy in general.  As we all went through this step-by-step process together, discussing and making decisions as a group, I think our final choice is one that most of us can be proud to have been a part of.

While there may be lingering disappointment amongst some members, I think the class overall did a good job in keeping an open mind during the discussion. I personally am very pleased with our decision to grant the fund to the Grassroots Project, as after last Thursday’s discussion, it was one that stood out as one of the proposals that most aligned with our class vision.  In response to the post below, I actually think that it is great that we decided to give the full grant to one organization. While decreasing risk, I think that giving half of the funds does not directly correlate with half of the success, as it may ultimately compromise the success of either of the organizations. Since our grant covers a significant portion of the Grassroots Project’s expansion, we at least know that they will have the funds necessary to accomplish their planned proposal.  Furthermore, although it may seem inefficient to spend time and money playing games with middle school children, I think it is one of the most effective ways to reach and create impressions upon children of that age group, as well as open a comfortable gateway to a not-so-comfortable topic.  They may scoff and goof off now, but at least we know that they have sat through the classes and the topic is somewhere in the back of their mind, so hopefully a few years down the road when the topic is very relevant, they will be able to make the right choices.  As someone mentioned in class, the expansion of the Grassroots Project into PG County could be the start of an area-wide transformation in the perception of and education about HIV/AIDS.  I am very optimistic about the future of the Grassroots Project and I hope to see it grow in the UMD community and beyond.

-Sarah B.

Philanthropy: Fun or Fungus

I must disagree with the previous blog post, for our choice of a nonprofit was not solely based on the “head and not the heart.” Choosing a nonprofit close to our campus (so we can monitor their success) shows self-interest on our part. I felt like a Congressmen bringing home the pork to my district when we supported an organization that would work on the University of Maryland’s campus. I am proud we came to a decision, but we erred in so many ways over the course of our semester that when we came to the final (four organizational) decision, it did not really matter anymore, and the presumptive, semester long favorite had won.

There were two reigning notions on the day we selected the champion nonprofit: impact and innovation. Most people would agree that impact can be concretely measured, while innovation is an airy term that is hard to pinpoint. The acolytes of the winning organization heralded these two words, but no one ever went into detail into how this organization was so innovative (said at least a dozen times during our discussion), and how it had such a great impact. During the entirety of the selection process I have considered HIV testing kits to be the true metric for impact, as I cannot envision how drastically this changes someone who has HIV/AIDS life chances (and a chance to save other lives). Teaching elementary and middle school adolescents material that half of them do not understand seems to fall short of true, measurable impact. It just seems like something that would put a smile on their befuddled faces and ours, too. Furthermore, students in our class made funny hand gestures emphasizing how we would make a larger impact if we funded one organization with all our money, and how it would decreases risks. This could not be further from reality: splitting our money into two grants diversifies our risk. Also, splitting our funds ought to increase our impact compared to funding one organization if the organizations continued their programs with only half our grant. Moreover, teaching children about life altering decisions using sports and games is not innovative.  The ways in which information is worked into the games is innovative, but the slew of student’s siren call of “innovation! Innovation!” seemed like a catchword to sway other people.

-George B.

Making a difference in our own backyard

After this Thursday’s grueling deliberation for which organization should receive the TERPhilanthropy Fund, it became very clear that every potential candidate was highly qualified and thoroughly deserving of our grant.  As someone mentioned in class, all of our options were very “good” and our job was to select which one was “better” than the rest.  Although we had a very passionate discussion, all of our arguments came from the head and not from the heart.  I know that I speak for many others when I say that all of the arguments made were valid and entirely justified.

Now that we have completed the challenging task of choosing the recipient of the 2012 TERPhilanthropy Fund, our next course of action is to follow the Grassroot Project’s progress to ensure that they utilize the money to make a positive impact in tackling HIV/AIDS.  Luckily, the Grassroot Project is utilizing the fund to expand the program onto University of Maryland’s campus and Prince George’s County middle schools.  Thus, the organization will be creating positive change right in our backyard. Since the $15,000 covered almost the entire project budget of $18,130 I hope to see the expansion take place in the near future.

As Professor Grimm stated earlier in the semester, we should not be afraid to ask for the fund back if it is not being spent as the application proposed. If for any reason the Grassroot Project cannot fulfill its mission, we should gracefully ask them to return the grant. However, I have great faith in the Grassroot Project, and I look forward to seeing them collaborate with our university to generate immense impact.  I urge all of us to stay in the loop with Grassroot Project and follow their progress throughout their expansion.

-Jamie B.